Ball shaped product and method for making the same

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to a ball shaped product and a method for making the same. The method includes the following steps of: (a) placing a ball shaped interior material on a supporting seat, wherein a part of an outer surface of the ball shaped interior material is exposed outside the supporting seat; (b) placing the ball shaped interior material and the supporting seat in a chamber; (c) covering a wrapping material on the chamber; (d) vacuum pumping the chamber, so that the wrapping material is attached to the exposed part of the outer surface of the ball shaped interior material; (e) releasing the vacuum of the chamber; and (f) rotating the ball shaped interior material, and repeating the step (a) to step (e) at least one time.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to a ball shaped product and a method formaking the same, and more particularly to a ball shaped product and amethod for making the same by using vacuum suction.

2. Description of the Related Art

Among various types of balls, considering a simple ball body, the entireball body is formed by means of directly injection molding a rubbermaterial. Based on the requirements of appearance, tactile, texture, orsports competition, a machine sewing process or hand sewing process isfurther developed. In such process, a bladder needs to be disposedinside the ball body for reason of sewing, the air is filled into thebladder during inflation, such that the bladder inflates the ball body,and then a surface cover of the ball is machine sewn or hand sewn ontothe bladder. Conventionally, materials for making the surface cover ofthe ball include thermoplastic urethane (TPU), polyvinyl chloride (PVC),and polyurethane (PU), which are nonfoamed or single-layer foamed.

The conventional ball making process has disadvantages of consuming muchlabor and time, and having a bottleneck in terms of production capacity,yield and quality. In addition, only a small range of materials can beused.

Therefore, it is necessary to provide a novel and inventive ball shapedproduct and method for making the same to solve the above problems.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a method for making a ball shapedproduct, comprising the following steps of: (a) placing a ball shapedinterior material on a supporting seat, wherein a part of an outersurface of the ball shaped interior material is exposed outside thesupporting seat; (b) placing the ball shaped interior material and thesupporting seat in an accommodating space of a chamber, wherein thechamber has an opening; (c) covering a wrapping material on the openingof the chamber; (d) vacuum pumping the chamber, so that the wrappingmaterial is attached to the exposed part of the outer surface of theball shaped interior material; (e) releasing the vacuum of the chamber;and (f) rotating the ball shaped interior material, and repeating thestep (a) to step (e) at least one time.

The present invention further provides a method for making a ball shapedproduct, comprising the following steps of: (a) placing a ball shapedinterior material on a first supporting seat, wherein a first outersurface of the ball shaped interior material is exposed outside thefirst supporting seat; (b) placing the ball shaped interior material andthe first supporting seat in an accommodating space of a first chamber,wherein the first chamber has an opening; (c) covering a first wrappingmaterial on the opening of the first chamber; (d) vacuum pumping thefirst chamber, so that the first wrapping material is attached to thefirst outer surface of the ball shaped interior material; (e) releasingthe vacuum of the first chamber; (f) rotating the ball shaped interiormaterial, and then placing the ball shaped interior material on a secondsupporting seat, wherein a second outer surface of the ball shapedinterior material is exposed outside the second supporting seat; (g)placing the ball shaped interior material and the second supporting seatin an accommodating space of a second chamber, wherein the secondchamber has an opening; (h) covering a second wrapping material on theopening of the second chamber; and (i) vacuum pumping the secondchamber, so that the second wrapping material is attached to the secondouter surface of the ball shaped interior material.

In the present invention, a large area can be wrapped in each vacuumwrapping process, and the vacuum wrapping process is fast and thus cansave labor and time, and improves the production capacity, yield andquality. In addition, a wide range of materials can be used.

The present invention further provides a ball shaped product, comprisinga ball shaped interior material and less than four wrapping materials.The wrapping materials are adhered to the ball shaped interior material.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be described according to the appended drawings inwhich:

FIGS. 1 to 8 are schematic views of an embodiment of a method for makinga ball shaped product of the present invention; and

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of another embodiment of a supporting seatused in the method for making a ball shaped product of the presentinvention.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

FIGS. 1 to 8 are schematic views of an embodiment of a method for makinga ball shaped product of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, afirst chamber 1 is provided. In this embodiment, the first chamber 1 isa vacuum wrapping machine, having an accommodating space 10, an opening11 and at least one vacuum channel 12.

Referring to FIG. 2, a first supporting seat 2 is provided. In thisembodiment, the first supporting seat 2 has an outer periphery 21, whichdefines a recess 22. The recess 22 may be half of a perfect sphericalshape, half of an elliptical spherical shape, half of an egg shape orhalf of other spherical shapes. In other embodiments, the recess 22 maybe one third, two thirds, one quarter, three quarters or otherproportions of a spherical shape. An upper end of the outer periphery 21is located at the same horizontal height, that is, the upper end of theouter periphery 21 is a plane.

Referring to FIG. 3, a ball shaped interior material 3 is placed on thefirst supporting seat 2. In this embodiment, the ball shaped interiormaterial 3 is a bladder and may have a perfect spherical shape, anelliptical spherical shape, an egg shape or other shapes. The ballshaped interior material 3 is received in the recess 22, that is, a partof an outer surface of the ball shaped interior material 3 is exposedoutside the first supporting seat 2, and the other part of the outersurface is surrounded by the outer periphery 21 of the first supportingseat 2. In this embodiment, a first outer surface 31 of the ball shapedinterior material 3 is exposed outside the first supporting seat 2, anda second outer surface 32 of the ball shaped interior material 3 issurrounded by the outer periphery 21 of the first supporting set 2.

Then, the ball shaped interior material 3 and the first supporting seat2 are placed in the accommodating space 10 of the first chamber 1. Inthis embodiment, the method further includes a step of forming anadhesive layer (not shown) on the first outer surface 31. It should beunderstood that, if the outer surface of the ball shaped interiormaterial 3 is adhesive, this step may be omitted.

Then, a first wrapping material 4 is completely covered on the opening11 of the first chamber 1. In this embodiment, the material of the firstwrapping material 4 is thermoplastic urethane (TPU), polyurethane (PU),rubber, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), nylon, polyethylene terephthalate(PET) or polycarbonate (PC). Preferably, the first wrapping material 4has an adhesive layer (not shown) on a lower surface thereof, and hastexture on an upper surface thereof.

Referring to FIG. 4, the first chamber 1 is vacuum pumped through thevacuum channel 12, so that the first wrapping material 4 is drawn downrapidly by vacuum suction, and then attached to the exposed part of theouter surface (that is, the first outer surface 31) of the ball shapedinterior material 3. In this embodiment, the first wrapping material 4is adhered to the exposed part of the outer surface (that is, the firstouter surface 31) of the ball shaped interior material 3. Preferably,the temperature of the first chamber 1 is controlled between roomtemperature and 250° C.

Referring to FIG. 5, after the vacuum of the first chamber 1 isreleased, the first wrapping material 4 that is not attached to the ballshaped interior material 3 is cut away, so that only the first wrappingmaterial 4 located on the first outer surface 31 is left. In otherembodiments, the cutting step at this time may be omitted, and an excessof the wrapping material is cut away once for all after the wrappingprocess is completed.

Referring to FIG. 6, the ball shaped interior material 3 is rotated, andthen placed on a second supporting seat 2 a, wherein the second outersurface 32 of the ball shaped interior material 3 is exposed outside thesecond supporting seat 2 a. The second supporting seat 2 a has an outerperiphery 21 a, which defines a recess 22 a. In this embodiment, thesecond supporting seat 2 a and the first supporting seat 2 are the samesupporting seat, or different supporting seats having the sameappearance, because the recesses 22 and 22 a are each half of a perfectspherical shape. In other embodiments, the second supporting seat 2 aand the first supporting seat 2 may be supporting seats having differentappearances.

Then, the ball shaped interior material 3 and the second supporting seat2 a are placed in an accommodating space 10 a of a second chamber 1 a.The second chamber 1 a is a vacuum wrapping machine, having theaccommodating space 10 a, an opening 11 a and at least one vacuumchannel 12 a. In this embodiment, the second chamber 1 a and the firstchamber 1 are the same chamber; however, in other embodiments, thesecond chamber 1 a and the first chamber 1 are different chambers. Inthis embodiment, the method further includes a step of forming anadhesive layer (not shown) on the second outer surface 32. It should beunderstood that, if the outer surface of the ball shaped interiormaterial 3 is adhesive, this step may be omitted.

Then, a second wrapping material 4 a is completely covered on theopening 11 a of the second chamber 1 a. In this embodiment, the materialof the second wrapping material 4 a is thermoplastic urethane (TPU),polyurethane (PU), rubber, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), nylon, polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) or polycarbonate (PC). Preferably, the secondwrapping material 4 a has an adhesive layer (not shown) on a lowersurface thereof, and has texture on an upper surface thereof. The secondwrapping material 4 a and the first wrapping material 4 are the same ordifferent.

Referring to FIG. 7, the second chamber 1 a is vacuum pumped through thevacuum channel 12 a, so that the second wrapping material 4 a is drawndown rapidly by vacuum suction, and then attached to the exposed part ofthe outer surface (that is, the second outer surface 32) of the ballshaped interior material 3. In this embodiment, the second wrappingmaterial 4 a is adhered to the exposed part of the outer surface (thatis, the second outer surface 32) of the ball shaped interior material 3.

Referring to FIG. 8, after the vacuum of the second chamber 1 a isreleased, the second wrapping material 4 a that is not attached to theball shaped interior material 3 is cut away, thus fabricating a ballshaped product 5. It should be understood that, if the first wrappingmaterial 4 that is not attached to the ball shaped interior material 3is not cut away in the step of FIG. 5, the cutting step at this time iscutting away the first wrapping material 4 and the second wrappingmaterial 4 a that are not attached to the ball shaped interior material3.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of another embodiment of a supporting seatused in the method for making a ball shaped product of the presentinvention. The supporting seat 2 b of this embodiment is substantiallythe same as the first supporting seat 2 shown in FIG. 2, except that theupper end of the outer periphery 21 b of the supporting seat 2 b hasridges and valleys, for example, a tooth shape. It should be understoodthat, the outer periphery 21 b of the supporting seat 2 b may also haveother shapes.

In this embodiment, the vacuum wrapping process is performed two times.However, in other embodiments, if a specially designed supporting seatis provided, the vacuum wrapping process may also be performed threetimes or more than four times, with one third or less than one quarterof the ball shaped interior material 3 being wrapped each time.

In this embodiment, a large area can be wrapped in each vacuum wrappingprocess, and the vacuum wrapping process is fast and thus can save laborand time, and improves the production capacity, yield and quality. Inaddition, a wide range of materials can be used.

FIG. 8 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a ballshaped product of the present invention. The ball shaped product 5includes a ball shaped interior material 3 and a plurality of wrappingmaterials. The wrapping materials are adhered to the ball shapedinterior material 3. In this embodiment, the ball shaped interiormaterial 3 is a bladder and may have a perfect spherical shape, anelliptical spherical shape, an egg shape or other shapes. The ballshaped interior material 3 has a first outer surface 31 and a secondouter surface 32. The number of the wrapping materials is two, which arerespectively a first wrapping material 4 and a second wrapping material4 a. The first wrapping material 4 and the second wrapping material 4 aare respectively adhered to the first outer surface 31 and the secondouter surface 32 of the ball shaped interior material 3 by vacuumsuction.

The material of the first wrapping material 4 is thermoplastic urethane(TPU), polyurethane (PU), rubber, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), nylon,polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or polycarbonate (PC). The material ofthe second wrapping material 4 a is thermoplastic urethane (TPU),polyurethane (PU), rubber, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), nylon, polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) or polycarbonate (PC). The second wrapping material4 a and the first wrapping material 4 are the same or different.

Preferably, the ball shaped product 5 further includes an adhesive layer(not shown), located between the ball shaped interior material 3 and thewrapping materials 4 and 4 a. In this embodiment, the number of thewrapping materials is two; however, in other embodiments, the number ofthe wrapping materials may be three or more than four.

The principle and the efficacies of the present invention have beendisclosed above, and are not intended to limit the present invention.Therefore, modifications and variations of the embodiments made bypersons skilled in the art do not depart from the spirit of the presentinvention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention isdefined by the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for making a ball shaped product,comprising: (a) placing a ball shaped interior material on a supportingseat, wherein a part of an outer surface of the ball shaped interiormaterial is exposed outside the supporting seat; (b) placing the ballshaped interior material and the supporting seat in an accommodatingspace of a chamber, wherein the chamber has an opening; (c) covering awrapping material on the opening of the chamber; (d) vacuum pumping thechamber, so that the wrapping material is attached to the exposed partof the outer surface of the ball shaped interior material; (e) releasingthe vacuum of the chamber; and (f) rotating the ball shaped interiormaterial, and repeating the step (a) to step (e) at least one time. 2.The method according to claim 1, wherein in the step (c), the materialof the wrapping material is thermoplastic urethane (TPU), polyurethane(PU), rubber, polyvinyl chloride (PVC), nylon, polyethyleneterephthalate (PET) or polycarbonate (PC).
 3. The method according toclaim 1, wherein in the step (c), the wrapping material has an adhesivelayer.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein after the step (e) orstep (f), the method further comprises a step of cutting away thewrapping material that is not attached to the ball shaped interiormaterial.
 5. A method for making a ball shaped product, comprising: (a)placing a ball shaped interior material on a first supporting seat,wherein a first outer surface of the ball shaped interior material isexposed outside the first supporting seat; (b) placing the ball shapedinterior material and the first supporting seat in an accommodatingspace of a first chamber, wherein the first chamber has an opening; (c)covering a first wrapping material on the opening of the first chamber;(d) vacuum pumping the first chamber, so that the first wrappingmaterial is attached to the first outer surface of the ball shapedinterior material; (e) releasing the vacuum of the first chamber; (f)rotating the ball shaped interior material, and then placing the ballshaped interior material on a second supporting seat, wherein a secondouter surface of the ball shaped interior material is exposed outsidethe second supporting seat; (g) placing the ball shaped interiormaterial and the second supporting seat in an accommodating space of asecond chamber, wherein the second chamber has an opening; (h) coveringa second wrapping material on the opening of the second chamber; and (i)vacuum pumping the second chamber, so that the second wrapping materialis attached to the second outer surface of the ball shaped interiormaterial.
 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein after the step(a), the method further comprises a step of forming an adhesive layer onthe first outer surface; and after the step (f), the method furthercomprises a step of forming an adhesive layer on the second outersurface.
 7. The method according to claim 5, wherein in the step (c),the first wrapping material has an adhesive layer; and in the step (h),the second wrapping material has an adhesive layer.
 8. A ball shapedproduct, comprising: a ball shaped interior material; and less than fourwrapping materials, adhered to the ball shaped interior material.
 9. Theball shaped product according to claim 8, wherein the ball shapedinterior material is a bladder and has a perfect spherical shape, anelliptical spherical shape or an egg shape; and the ball shaped productfurther comprises an adhesive layer, located between the ball shapedinterior material and the wrapping materials.
 10. The ball shapedproduct according to claim 8, wherein the material of the wrappingmaterial is thermoplastic urethane (TPU), polyurethane (PU), rubber,polyvinyl chloride (PVC), nylon, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) orpolycarbonate (PC); the wrapping materials are adhered to the ballshaped interior material by vacuum suction; and the number of thewrapping materials is two.